


Broken Trust

by RebeccaM_30, ZoneRobotnik



Series: Unexpected Plot Twist [12]
Category: Gravity Falls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 00:19:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19188124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaM_30/pseuds/RebeccaM_30, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoneRobotnik/pseuds/ZoneRobotnik
Summary: Fiddleford learns the truth, and in trying to help, makes the biggest mistake of his life.





	Broken Trust

He'd been in his room almost the entire time he'd been here. Shortly after one of Cipher's guys had dropped him off, he'd made excuses about being tried from the trip. Now, he was just hiding.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure he could face his uncle after Cipher's revelations. The only thing that brought him out of his room was the rumbling of his stomach. If he were fast enough, maybe he could sneak down to the kitchen and grab some cereal. They always kept Cinnamon Toast Crunch on hand for him. He was lost in his thoughts and almost didn't notice the person he bumped into. "Ah'm sorry! Ah didn't see...Uncle Gib! Uh..good mornin'."

"Fiddleford, mah boy!" He spread his arms out. "Ye never gave me a hug when ya came back from Cipher's! Did ye have a good trip 'ere?" He asked pleasantly with a smile. "Ah've missed you, mah boy!"

He hugged his uncle. "Uh, yeah. Tha train was a bit crowded, but other'n that, it was fine."  
He looked down at the floor, hoping his uncle wouldn't notice how uncomfortable he was. Maybe he could pass it off as being hungry? Or blame his anxiety? That sometimes worked with Pa.

"Yer prolly wonderin' what Ah was doin' at Cipher's tha other night, huh?"

Gibson noticed he was looking uncomfortable and gently let go. "Ah'm sorry, Fiddleferd. After your kidnappin' by Cipher, Ah should've been more sensitive. Did 'e hurt ye a'tall?"

"Nah. He jus wanted ta meet me. Coulda gone 'bout it a bit different, but Ah get tha feelin' he's a bit...off. An' Ah wouldn't really call it uh 'kidnappin', more like uh 'enforced invitation'. Fiddleford laughed.

"'E's dangerous, that one is." Gibson assured him with a frown. "No one knows wha' 'e's thinkin'. And 'e talks like he's a million years old."

"He acted like 'at when I was there. Like Ah said, seemed a bit off, but not uh bad guy. Not 'at Ah'd make a habit 'a it, but Ah wouldn't mind payin' 'im another visit soon."

Gibson shook his head. "Ah don' want ya talkin' to to 'im, Fiddleferd." He noticed his cereal. "Yer food's gon' get soggy. Ah'll let ya eat." He rubbed his head and walked over to get his own food.

Fiddleford scowled. _Seriously_? He was twenty years old, not twelve! What right did his uncle have to tell him who he could see and who he couldn't? Speaking of....  
"Uncle Gib? 'Ave ya heard from Rob recently? Ah haven't seen 'im in a while an' iffn he's still in tha area, Ah'd like ta meet 'im fer lunch."

"Rob?" Gibson shrugged. "'E left mah employ years ago, didn' Ah tell ya that? I though' Ah did..."

"Ya did. Ah jus thought maybe he kept in touch."

"Nah, Ah haven' heard from 'im in years." Gibson took eggs out of the fridge.

"Okay. He kept in touch whit me fer a while, but 'is letters dropped off after a bit."

"Ah can see iffin I cin get 'is number. It migh' be th' same." Gibson offered helpfully.

"That'd be good." He munched on his cereal. He hated small talk. "Oh. Ah need tha wifi password. Ah'm workin' on mah admissions project fer engineering school an' Ah need ta look fer parts."

"Oh, o' course." He took a slip of paper off the fridge and handed it over. "Here ya go. Put it back when ye're done."

"Ah will. Thanks."

Gibson nodded and then started humming as he started to make himself some eggs.

Fiddleford put his bowl in the sink and slipped out of the room. Now that he had the password, he could hopefully get passed his uncle's firewalls and do some serious snooping. He was pretty sure he could get passed them easily, after all, he designed them.

* * *

 

Getting into his uncle's computer was easy. and, at first, nothing weird seemed to be going on. Maybe Mr. Cipher was wrong about his uncle? But, something told him to keep digging, and so he dug around until he found a locked folder.

What would his uncle use for a password? He needed to think about this one...On a whim, he tried his own name, surprised when it worked. _"Not a very secure system"_ he thought.  
At first, the subfolders seemed more of the same, ' **Shipping** ', ' **Contacts** ', ' **Inventory** '. Until he came to one labelled ' **Live Auction** '.

Clicking on it, it brought up a camera feed. On camera, a young man sat on a cot in a small room. Next to the video was a column of screen names and numbers. The numbers were going up. It didn't take him long to realize what they were...bids. He felt sick. These people were bidding on a _person_! He clicked on a tab labelled ' **Merchandise Details** ', it was a basic description of the young man in the video. He gasped when he saw ' **Special details** : _above average intelligence; six fingers.'_  
"Oh, God, no! Please, don't let it be..."

"Is ever'thin' alrigh', Fiddleferd?" Gibson asked from outside the bedroom door.

"Um, yeah. Uh friend of mine jus sent me one uh those jump scare videos. Really got me."

"Well, d'you need anythin'?" Gibson asked him.

"Nah. Ah'm okay."

"Alrigh'. Ah'll be here if ya need anythin'." He walked away.

"Okay. Um, thanks."

He looked back to the video. The young man had stood and looked straight at the camera. He couldn't deny it now. 

' _Stanferd, what 'ave ya gotten yerself inta?_ ' he thought. He reached for his phone and quickly dialed a number. 'Come on, Stanley! Pick up!'

The phone picked up right away. "Fiddleford? Hey, please tell me this is you and not some psycho with your phone!"

"Ya gotta git over ta my uncle's place right away! It's 'bout Stanferd! Ah think he's got 'imself in trouble! Ah don' really know what's goin' on, but...Ah think it's an auction."

"Uh, where does your uncle live again? I'll have to sneak out, I'm grounded..." He heard Stanley's bedroom window open. "Might be a lot harder now that I'm not so small..."

"Why are ya grou...ne'ermind. The big house not too far from tha boardwalk. Git here fast! Ah ain't sure how much time we got!"

"Because they don't want what happened to my brother to happen to me! I'm on my way!" He hung up.

* * *

 

He tapped a few more keys. Apparently, the live feed had gone up a day before the bidding opened. How much time did they have to find Stanford? He noticed a count down in the corner of the screen. Just under twenty four hours. _"Please hurry, Stanley!"_

He kept the window open as he checked the other folders. ' **Monitor** '? He clicked on it, seeing another video feed. Another young man lay in a cot, he appeared to be crying. ' _Another one?_ ' Fiddleford thought. This camera had a zoom feature, so he decided to get a better look. His breakfast suddenly rebelled against his stomach. "Rob?!"

"Fiddleferd, I brought cook--" Gibson opened the door and froze. He then calmly closed the door and walked over to put the cookies on the desk before shutting the lid of the laptop. "How did you see that?" He asked coolly.

"Ah was looking fer that site that has the really good computer parts. Ah think I clicked sumthin' wrong, cause Ah ended up there." _'Please believe that.'_ he pleaded silently. He had always been a horrible liar. "Why did ya lie ta me? Ya said Rob didn' work fer ya no more."

Gibson sighed and rubbed his temples. "Jus' forget ye saw anythin'. As fer Rob, he doesn't _work_  fer meh."

"So, Cipher was tellin' tha truth." Fiddleford slapped his hands over his mouth, suddenly aware he'd spoken out loud. He slowly lowered his hands and met his uncle's suddenly cold eyes.

"So...Cipher put you up to this. Ah knew there was more to his invitin' you over than jus' 'tea'." Gibson said coldly. "Ah shoulda figured."

"No! Ah wanted ta prove 'im wrong! But instead, Ah find... _this_?! And tha auction! An' why are ya auctionin' off one uh mah best friends?"

Gibson sighed heavily. "Ah'm...going to turn off the wi-fi. And then I'm locking ya in yer room." He turned and left the room, shutting the door and locking it behind him. Fiddleford heard a latch being hooked on the other side.

He grabbed his phone again and dialed Stan's number. "Come on! Pick up!" 

To his horror, he heard Stan's phone ringing outside the house. It was cut short and he went to the window to see Stan being grabbed by the big guy, - what was his name? Frank? - before he was hauled out of sight.

Shortly after, he saw a gold and black car pulling out and a man got up to set a wrapped present on the porch before he left again.

He smacked his forehead against the window. "What happens now?"


End file.
